Volumes have been written about the Indian freedom movement that began with Dadabhoy Naoroji, Gandhi, Tagore and Sri Aurobindo. The men who followed them: Tilak and Nehru, Azad and Patel now occupy their rightful place in history. Very little has been said about a third generation of patriots, men who had lit their torches at the parental flame. H.M. Patel was one of these forgotten heroes: men who presided with commitment, care and wisdom over the fragile early decades of the infant Republic.